


Hobby

by Peskychloe



Series: Awareness [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Deaf ennoshita, M/M, awareness universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 03:24:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14275893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peskychloe/pseuds/Peskychloe
Summary: Ficlet after 'Awareness'





	Hobby

**Author's Note:**

  * For [K8ecrowley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/K8ecrowley/gifts).



The first night they spend together, Yuuji knows he's in love.

 

He has a friend, Louise, who told him she loved her boyfriend after a week, and he remembers scoffing at that. They weren't even dating at that point.

"This is who I'm marrying, Yuu, I know it," she'd said, and he'd laughed unkindly and carried on flicking through a magazine.

But then they started dating, and got engaged, and at the wedding he'd finally had to admit she was right.

They had to be outliers.

 

He and Chikara don't do anything other than literally sleep together (and kissing, there's quite a lot of kissing. And hugging...) but he still knows.

He feels so happy in Chikara's bed, and it all feels right. That's how he knows.

Because it's easy.

But it's still not easy to say it, so he keeps it to himself.

 

The first time Chikara stays over at his house, Yuuji lets it slip.

He's not sure how it happens...but being honest, he gets carried away when Chikara kisses his stomach.

He doesn't stop moving down, and Yuuji realises it's because he hasn't heard him, not because he's embarrassed. He thinks about saying again, but he still worries it's too soon, so he leaves it and indulges instead in the feeling of Chikara's hands reaching to push his shirt up under his chin.

Before lowering his lips onto him, Chikara looks up and says, "Did you say something?"

Yuuji shakes his head. "Just enjoying myself."

 

After that it becomes a game, and not one he's proud of.

Every time Chikara doesn't have his hearing aids in, he softly says it, when his back is turned and the outside noise will drown it out.

I love you, he says to the stove when he's making eggs for breakfast and Chikara sits at the table.

I love you, he tells Chikara's back when he's rolling over to turn the light off in bed.

I love you, he whispers, to be safe, at the top of his head when they're intimate.

 

He really wants to say it to his face, but maybe it will scare him off - and Yuuji definitely doesn't want to do that. If he gets scared off...that can't be allowed to happen.

So instead, he says it only when he's sure it's inaudible. It quietens his heart a little every time he does it, like it's been screaming for him to say it and he's fooled it into thinking he's done it.

The more he does it though, the more he worries he'll be caught out, thinks he should stop doing it at all, but it's become a habit now.

No, more than that. He enjoys it. It's a hobby, he guesses.

 

Yuuji likes Chikara's bathroom with the big sink. It's so domestic brushing their teeth together, wearing their pyjama pants, he almost feels like brushing them doubly hard to get rid of the sickly, tooth rotting feeling of togetherness.

Chikara leans over to spit, and Yuuji does it.

I love you, he tells his naked back, matter-of-factly.

Chikara stands up sharply. Yuuji stills, checks his ears for his aids, which are definitely still absent. It's fine, he didn't...

"You...love me?" he stutters.

"No, I..."

"But you just. That's definitely what you said."

He turns to face Yuuj, who's flushed and confused and feels like crying. Chikara is smiling, at least, which stops the tears for a minute.

"What's wrong?" Chikara carries on, then looks up from under his lashes at Yuuji, a matching blush growing. "Thank you. For saying it."

"It's not..."

"I..." He takes a deep breath. "I love you, too."

"But this..."

Chikara leans in and kisses him, hands resting gently on his shoulders. "What made you say it for the first time now, though, of all times. We're both going to work soon, you noodle." He pushes his shoulder, and turns to go into the bedroom.

Yuuji chases after him, and spins him round to face him. "But it wasn't the first time! You just...you weren't meant to hear it yet!" He can hear the frustration in his own voice, and knows Chikara will pick up on it.

"What are you on about?"

"You're going to think I'm a dick."

"I already do. So tell me."

"I've been saying it for weeks. When I know you can't hear me. When you haven't got your hearing aids in. Okay? So I'm a nobhead, I know." He moves his hand as if controlling a hand puppet. "Come on then, chew me out. I've been insensitive blah blah."

Chikara's voice is soft, too forgiving. "For weeks? How long?"

"Since you first stayed here."

"But that was weeks ago."

"Yeah."

Chikara throws his arms around him and pulls him into an unexpected embrace; when he starts pecking at Yuuji's neck, working his way to his lips and changing it to a passionate, needy kiss, Yuuji thinks he's probably not in trouble after all. He relaxes for a while, reciprocates, almost makes them late for work.

 

Before they both leave, when he knows Chikara has his hearing aids in, he says it again.

"I love you," he tells the man he loves.

"I love you too," he says back, "Even though you're an idiot who forgets I can lip read, and that there's a mirror in the bathroom."

 


End file.
